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Two and a half weeks after the inauguration, and yes it’s only been that long, the media still don’t seem to have learned a single thing. They help the Trump campaign on an almost hourly basis by parroting whatever things, invariably judged as crazy, he says. One day it’s that negative polls are all fake news, the next it’s some list of underreported terror events. All of it gets an avalanche of attention provided by the very people who claim to be against Trump, but greatly help his cause by doing so.

Not a single thing learned. If Trump tweets tomorrow that tomatoes are really fruits and he’s going to have someone draw up a law to make them so, or that Lego should be recognized as an official building material in order to have the Danes, too, pay for the wall, it will be on the front page of every paper and the opening item for every TV news show. The crazier he makes them, the more serious they are taken. The echo chamber is so eager to incessantly repeat to itself and all its inhabitants that he’s a crazy dude, it’s beyond embarrassing.

And it takes us ever further away, and rapidly too, from any serious discussion about serious issues, the one very thing that the Trump empire desperately calls for. The press should simply ignore the crazy stuff and focus on what’s real, but they can’t bring themselves to do so for fear of losing ratings and ad revenues. All Trump needs to do, and that’s not a joke, is to fart or burp into their echo chamber and they’ll all be happy and giddy and all excited and self-satisfied. A spectacle to behold if ever there was one.

British House of Commons Speaker John Bercow can play that game too. He has loudly advertized his refusal to let Trump address UK politicians in the House of Commons and the House of Lords: “An address by a foreign leader to both houses of Parliament is not an automatic right, it is an earned honor..” It’s an honor recently gifted to the likes of China President Xi Jinping and the Emir of Kuwait. Fine and upstanding gentlemen in the tradition Britain so likes, nothing like the American President whom he accuses of racism and sexism.

The racism part ostensibly is a reaction to Trump’s Muslim ban, which, nutty though it is, is not a Muslim ban because most Muslims are not affected by it, and besides, ‘Muslim’ is not a race. So maybe Bercow would care to explain the ‘racism’ bit. Has anyone seen the British press pressuring him to do so? Or, alternatively, has anyone seen a thorough analysis of the British role, though its military and its weapons manufacturers, in the premature deaths in the Middle East and North Africa of many thousands of men, women and children belonging to the Muslim ‘race’? Not me.

The ‘sexism’ accusation refers to Trump’s utterances on for instance the Billy Bush tape(s), and by all means let’s get the Donald to comment on that. But this comes from a man who speaks as an official representative of the Queen of a country where child sex abuse is a national sport, from politics to churches to football, where literally thousands of children are trying to speak up and testify, after having been silenced, ignored and ridiculed for years, about the unspeakable experiences in their childhood. Surely someone who because of his job description gets to speak in the name of the Queen can be expected to address the behavior of her own subjects before that of strangers.

Yeah, that Trump guy is a real terrible person. And he should not be allowed to speak to a chamber full of people directly responsible for the death of huge numbers of children in far away sandboxes, for or the abuse of them at home. After all, we’re all good Christians and the good book teaches us about “the beam out of thine own eye”. So we’re good to go.

What this really tells you is to what extent the political systems in the US and the UK, along with the media that serve them, have turned into a massive void, a vortex, a black hole from which any reflection, criticism or self-awareness can no longer escape. By endlessly and relentlessly pointing to someone, anyone, outside of their own circle of ‘righteousness’ and political correctness, they have all managed to implant one view of reality in their voters and viewers, while at the same time engaging in the very behavior they accuse the people of that they point to. For profit.

Child sex abuse has been a staple of British society for a long time, we’re talking at least decades. Only now is it starting, but only starting, to be recognized as the vile problem it is. But still many Britons feel entirely justified in demonizing a man who once talked about touching the genitals of grown women. If that did happen against their will, it’s repulsive. But still, there’s that beam, guys. Read your bible.

The political/media black hole exists in many other countries too; we are truly entering a whole new phase in both domestic and global affairs. That is what allows for the Trumps and Le Pens of the world to appeal to people; there is nobody else left that people can have any faith in. The system(s) are broken beyond repair, and anyone perceived as belonging to them will be cast aside. Not all at the same time, but all of them nonetheless.

Whether you call the menu the people have been fed, fake or false or just plain nonsense, it makes no difference. The British House of Commons Speaker may not be such a bad guy inside, he’s probably just another victim of the falsehoods, denials and deceit spread 24/7. The difference between them and ordinary citizens is that Her Majesty’s representatives in the political field MUST know. They get paid good salaries to represent the Queen’s subjects, and looking the other way as children get assaulted and raped does not fit their job description.

That goes for representatives of the church (i.e. Jesus) just as much of course, and for the execs at the BBC, but about as many of those people are behind bars as there are bankers. For anyone at all at any of these institutions to now speak with great indignation about Trump’s alleged racism and sexism is the very core of all of their problems, the very reason why so many turn their backs on them. It shows that the very core or our societies is rotten, and the rot is spreading.

We are facing a lot of problems, all of us, in many different ways, financially, politically, morally. But our problem is not called Donald Trump. And we need to stop pretending that it is. We are the problem. We allow our governments to tell our armies to bomb and drone innocent people while we watch cooking shows. We have believed, as long as we’ve been alive, whatever the media feed us, without any critical thought, which we reserve for choosing our next holiday destination.

The longer this braindead attitude prevails, the worse things will get, and the more Trumps will surface as leaders of their respective countries. And the longer the attitude prevails, the more anger we will spread in those parts of the world that do not belong to our ‘chosen’ societies. And for that we will have only ourselves to blame. Not Trump.

Paul Cézanne Les (Grandes) Baigneuses 1905 Two and a half weeks after the inauguration, and yes it’s only been that long, the media still don’t[See the full post at: Fake and False and Just Plain Nonsense]

I’m not following the logic. He’s vile and absurd so let’s not give him attention; let’s give the underlying systems attention? Ok; but he’s a personification of a rather vague system (corporatocracy) that’s much easier to comprehend. It’s tough for the masses to shout about global capitalism and its failings (clearly) but Trump is tangible and wholly representative of these generational, multi-national lapses in judgement. Let the people point to him, to draw attention to the system. He’s an accessible entry point, and i’m ok with that.

We do, however, need to rethink our protest movement and get more creative in terms of expressing our anger.

I actually differ on the comments about the press, instead suggesting they have done a better job of holding him to the fire of truth after the innaugeration than before. What I cannot understand is how anyone, the press included, expected Trump to be a different more serious person after taking the oath. What was there in his behavior to suggested he would be any different? He’s a dangerous person because he’s willing to make up any information he deems necessary to hold up that firewall that supports his narcissistic state of mind. Fake numbers, fake assertions, fake ideas all point to a person with mental illness. If he doesn’t get the US into a major war with a super power it will just be dumb luck.

Well spoke Ilargi; spot on.
I no longer read any U.S. MSM, BBC, Aljazeera, etc..
Amy Goodman at Democracy Now reported a news item re: Syria hanging 13,000 Syrian’s with no mention it may not be true. As the worm turns, it is probably false; still waiting for confirmation one way or the other.
My bottom line is; question “everything” and with hold judgement until cross checked.
The U.S. and British press have already proven they are liars and purveyors of government propaganda.

The conventional wisdom is that Trump is a reflection of economic malaise. For those, like me, who fully expect the global market economy to collapse sooner rather than later, Trump might just be a harbinger of the collapse to come.

But then again, he might just be a symptom of the racism and sexism of a vast swath of white America. For some reason, I would prefer that he be a sign of economic stress rather than just a symptom of the moral failings at the heart of American society.

Either way, Trump’s ascension is an ominous omen. My strategy, even though I am a US citizen, is to stay as far away from his influence as possible and prepare for collapse. It’s a strategy that can’t hurt no matter what happens.

Well, well. That painting certainly brings back the memories. I was around 19 at the time and awfully frustrated. No girlfriend. I had a pint and told myself no going home until I picked up a bird.

I wandered into London’s National gallery and spotted a stunningly pretty girl – tall, slim with dark hair. She was alone. She gave me the eye and we each circled the large room in opposite directions. I was desperately trying to think of what to say, but could not. We met in front of this painting and both stared at it for a while. Suddenly, I said “it looks like quite an orgy” – I don’t know how these words jumped out of my mouth. She smiled and agreed. We got on splendidly after that. She was 24. She turned out to be a stewardess on Qantas – they were called hostesses at that time. They flew VC-10’s and the competition was fierce as there was only one girl on the plane – the others were males. She was staying at the Mayfair Hotel – they put them up in a crap hotel at the airport these days.

When I picked her up in the evening, she was wearing a fur jacket and full evening dress – and I was in denims and a floral shirt. Oh the shame. I won’t say any more. I still remember her name. 🙂

This is really quite funny. They have been destroying the careers of anyone who did not promote their agenda – and they had billions of dollars behind them. This nonsense has gone on for 25 years. I am so glad to see it finally being revealed for the gigantic fraud which it was all along. 🙂

Because I, and probably many here, come with political ideas that might best be summarized as Liberal it’s understandable that we don’t quite get where IM is coming from here. My sentiments will always be ‘Liberal’ because these sorts of things become second nature. Pretty long ago however I recognized that the dominant ‘Liberal’ cultures of the US, the Anglo speaking world and the EU part of Europe are totally contingent upon, as Pepe Escobar just put it “the West’s hegemonic narrative of the past 250 years”.

Here is the full quote and then the link to the whole article.

“It’s impossible to summarize all the rhizomatic (hat tip to Deleuze-Guattari) intellectual crossfire deployed by Age of Anger. What’s clear is that to understand the current global civil war, archeological reinterpretation of the West’s hegemonic narrative of the past 250 years is essential. Otherwise we will be condemned, like puny Sisyphean specks, to endure not only the recurrent nightmare of history but also its recurrent blowback”

Closer to to the Automatic Earth’s core idea that hegemonic narrative includes the absolute belief in economic growth. Without growth most everything we think of as liberal culture isn’t going to persist. Well that’s my opinion. I understand The Donald’s project as keeping the hope of growth alive, for a select fewer. That isn’t going to happen either and in a way right now seems worse only because it is selective. If that makes any sense.